Tracking Connection Weekend
Weekend immersion in wildlife tracking
Program description
Join us for a full weekend exploring wildlife tracking hotspots in the Jeffersonville VT area, on the cusp between summer and fall. We'll search out tracks and investigate habitat edges rich with widlife sign, uncovering ecological stories and gaining fluency in interpreting them. Activities will be weather-dependent and designed to make the most of the conditions and wildlife activity. We will have access to a great number of beaver ponds, stream corridors, and forests on both private and public land. This is planned as a fully-outdoors program, with an option of moving some activities indoors in case of extreme weather. Program topics will include: How and where to look: We will share a process for observing wildlife tracks and sign, plus our approaches to seeking out wildlife sign on the landscape. Track and Trail ID: Identification of both clear and obscure prints, whether based on track morphology or an interpretation of the track pattern and context of the trail. Gaits and Animal Locomotion: Reading track patterns and translating them into how an animal was moving. This allows us to visualize the animal that left the tracks: were they walking, trotting, bounding, hoping, loping or galloping? Animal Sign and Marking Behavior: Feeding sign; dens, beds and lays; scat and territorial marking. As we learn to recognize these signs, the woods light up with activity in all seasons. Recognizing Behaviors and Events: We will interpret wildlife sign as well as the story of each trail to reveal how animals are interacting with their landscape. How was the animal moving relative to their "baseline"? Were they relaxed or fleeing? Foraging, resting, or something else? Program timing: Saturday 9/12: 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday 9/13: 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Who should take part? Anyone looking to spend two days in the field looking at wildlife sign and developing their fluency in interpreting it. Beginners, returning students, and experienced trackers are welcome. You might be an outdoor enthusiast who wants to add a new dimension to your nature walks and hikes, a naturalist looking to develop a new lens for looking at the land, a student on the path tracker certification, or someone looking to apply wildlife tracking in your work (whether land management, outdoor education, wildlife biology, community science, etc.) Feel free to reach out about local lodging options if traveling to the area. Limited to 9 participants.
Upcoming Sessions
Booking Policies
Program Expectations: Participants should be comfortable walk up to 2 miles off-trail, on uneven terrain. Participants are responsible for their own food and equipment while in the field, and for their own lodging if traveling from outside of the program area. Suggested gear includes a field notebook; lunch, snacks and a full water bottle; and clothing and footwear appropriate for spending full days in the field. Refund Policy: Program fees are refundable (minus a $20 administrative fee) if cancellation notice is given more than 30 days before the workshop date. Cancellation notice should be given by email to trackingconnection@gmail.com. If you withdraw your registration within 30 days of the program date, the program fee will only be refundable in the event that someone else signs up in your place. We will keep a participant waitlist but make no guarantees that we can fill your spot. Cancellation & Rescheduling: The provider reserves the right to cancel this program for any reason. Likely reasons would be instructor illness or injury, or adverse weather conditions impacting safety and/or wildlife activity and tracking conditions (though programs generally run rain or shine). In the event of a postponement due to instructor availability or weather conditions, we will work with participants to reschedule the field session to a new date within 3 months of the originally scheduled date. In the case of a full program cancellation by the provider, participants will receive a refund.